Outsmarted
by Frost Hobbit
Summary: Avery Carpenter is a grifter, and she always gets what she's after. But when she and Eliot Spencer are trying to steal the same artifact, is he too much for her to contend with? Original character centric. Eliot/OC


**A/N This fic is set between seasons one and two of Leverage. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage or the character of Eliot (I'm merely borrowing him!). Avery is my own creation, though.  
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The security at the Mueller Museum of Ancient Artifacts was said to be abnormally heavy, but Eliot had chosen to break in the night the owner, Trent Mueller, was holding his annual gala for contributors to the museum. That night, the security guards were most heavily concentrated near the main entrance, in the lobby where the gala was being held. Eliot had no trouble getting past two guards at the south entrance. One stolen uniform and ID badge later, he was in. It was almost like they wanted to be robbed.

The Mueller Museum was full of treasures that Eliot knew would have Parker beside herself with excitement, but Parker wasn't here and Eliot had his eye on one thing in particular – a tiara, set with diamonds and sapphires, that had been shuffled from museum to museum since the 1800s. No one knew where it had come from or who had owned it – therefore earning its nickname "the Mystery Crown" and making it one of the most sought-after pieces in the world. After tonight, it would belong to Eliot. Or rather, it would belong to Eliot's client, who was going to pay him an elaborate sum of money upon delivery. Which was even better.

xxx

Avery Carpenter hadn't worked her way here for nothing.

Trent Mueller was a sleazebag, Avery had known that right off the bat. Posing as an heiress (and a former winner of the Miss Alabama pageant to boot) had been much easier than she had expected. A short skirt and low-cut blouse, plus a promise of her rich father's financial backing for years to come, and Mueller had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. Now all she had to do was get the Sapphire Tiara and get out. It had been a long week of faking a Southern accent, feigning ditziness, and pretending to be interested in Mueller's life.

The plan was simple. Go to the gala as Mueller's guest. Wait until he left her alone. Get down to the vaults after stealing a security key, get the tiara, and get the hell out of dodge. Too long of a time in one place made Avery antsy, and the character of Daisy Valentine was getting boring.

She pulled her car up to the circle drive in front of the museum and checked herself in the mirror. Quickly she reapplied lipstick and mascara, and made sure her long brown hair was safely tucked into its bun. Showtime. Goodbye, Avery. Hello, Daisy Valentine.

She pasted a huge smile on her face and thanked the attendant who opened her car door for her. She made her way up the museum steps and waved when she saw Mueller at the door, under the pretense of greeting his guests but most likely waiting for her.

"Daisy!" Mueller greeted her in a congenial way, but Avery did not miss the way his eyes swept over her body as he leaned over to kiss her cheek. "So glad you could make it, my dear. Come inside, come inside! I'd like to introduce you to some of my other investors!"

"Sure!" gushed Avery, dropping into the Southern drawl she'd been using as Daisy. "I'd be happy to meet them!"

Mueller smiled and offered his arm, which Avery took. He led her through the crowd to a table where the buffet was set up. A group of people stood next to it, chatting. "Hello, Craig," Mueller said, patting the nearest man on the back. "Donovan – Patrick – " He nodded to each of the men in turn. "I'd like to introduce you to Miss Daisy Valentine!" Avery smiled brightly and dipped her head. "Her father's just made a very generous donation, and they'll be working with me for the next few years!"

Avery smiled and offered her hand. "Hi. How're y'all doin'?" She shook the hands of all the investors. "It sure is nice to meet everybody! I tell you, I've met so many fine people this week, I just can't wait to keep on doin' business with y'all!"

"And I look forward to doing business with you!" Mueller reached over and plucked a glass of champagne from the table. He offered it to her. "Make yourself at home, Daisy. I've got to greet some other guests, but I'll look for you later!"

"You take your time now!" Avery called after him as he walked away, then tilted her head back and downed the whole glass of champagne. The investors stared at her. She smiled broadly again. "Sometimes you just need a drink, y'know? Now if you'll excuse me for just a minute, I've got to go to the ladies' room. Have a nice chat!" She nodded, then turned and walked away, rolling her eyes. The tiara would make this entire week worth it.

Lifted a security key off a guard was easy. Years of practice had made her pick-pocketing skills close to perfect. Without much trouble, Avery made her way out of the gala and downstairs to the vaults, where the tiara was being kept tonight. It would be easy enough to break the glass that would surround the tiara itself, but the vault had motion detectors and heat sensors that Avery had to figure out how to get around.

She swiped the security card and entered the hallway underneath the museum, where the vault was kept. The floors were white tile and her high heels sounded uncomfortably loud, but it seemed deserted enough that no one was going to sneak up on her.

Avery approached the vault at the end of the hallway. The door was steel and could be opened with a security code. Avery knelt next to the keypad and opened her purse. She pulled out a container of blush and began dusting for fingerprints.

A low chuckle made her look up. To Avery's dismay, a security guard stood over her. He had a muscular build and long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. And he currently had his arms crossed over his chest and was looking down at her.

Avery looked down. "Fuck," she muttered under her breath. She dropped the container of blush and got to her feet. Was it worth trying to be Daisy Valentine again? "I'm real sorry about this, sir," she said apologetically. "See, I was supposed to meet my friend Mr. Mueller down here and get into the vault, but he wasn't here so I thought I might – "

"Cut the crap," said the guard. "I know exactly what you're up to." He scowled. "You know, as a security guard, I really ought to get you out of here and call the police."

Avery decided to make a last-ditch effort. "I'm sorry, you've gotten the wrong impression, sir – "

"Hey!" called another security guard who had just rounded the corner. He came hurrying over to them. "What's going on here?"

"Well, see – " began the first guard, but before finishing the sentence he jabbed his elbow back into the other guard's face. He doubled over with a groan, and with a few swift punches, the second guard was on the ground, unconscious. He turned back to Avery and smiled. "Lucky for you I'm not really a security guard, and Mueller's guys suck." He held out his hand. "Eliot."

Cautiously Avery shook it. "Avery."

"No more accent, huh? Figured that was an act." Eliot grinned. "Tell me something – you new at this?"

"No!" Avery said, affronted. "Clearly, you're not a grifter. People _know_ me."

Eliot chuckled. "No, I'm no grifter. But if you're experienced, that makes your mistakes all the more disappointing." He nudged the blush she'd dropped with his toe. "Makeup? Really?"

"It's surprisingly good for fingerprinting!" Avery said, affronted. She didn't like having her tactics belittled. "What mistakes are you talking about?"

"Listen, I bet you're after that tiara, aren't you?" Eliot shook his head, still grinning. "It ain't in the vault, sweetheart." He gave her a wink, then walked past her and on down the hall.

"Hold on a minute!" Avery said, darting in front of him. "What do you mean, it's not in the vault?"

Eliot laughed, shaking his head. "Call yourself a grifter and you haven't done your basic research? Every two weeks they clean that thing, which means it's on the other side of the building right now being cleaned, not in the vault."

Avery furrowed her eyebrows. "Where's the cleaning room?"

Eliot laughed. "You don't get it, do you? Sweetie, I'm trying to steal the same thing as you. I'm not about to tell you where it is."

Avery was a little taken aback, but she recovered her composure quickly. "I'll just follow you there," she said calmly. "And I'm smaller and quicker and I'll probably get it first anyway."

Eliot looked her up and down, taking in her tight gray dress and high heels. "In that?"

"Damn straight," Avery said.

Eliot smirked. The corners of his eyes crinkled. It would be kind of cute if he wasn't trying to steal the same tiara Avery was after. "Then may the best thief win."

xxx

The cleaning room wasn't as hard to find as Eliot would have had her believe. The basement of the museum wasn't very complicated and it was pretty free of guards. Avery picked the lock easily and got inside, slamming the door behind her to slow Eliot down.

She suppressed a groan when she saw how large the room was. Rows and rows of artifacts lay under glass. Avery resigned herself to searching by hand.

Slowly she made her way through the room and finally she found the tiara, locked in a case made of thick glass. This lock, too, Avery picked easily, but the second she put her hand in the case an alarm went off. Loud sirens filled the room and lights flashed. Avery grabbed the tiara, covered her ears, and ran for the door. Once out of the room, she ran straight into Eliot.

"Are you stupid?" he yelled at her over the sirens. "You didn't disable the heat sensors before you broke into that thing?"

"I didn't know there were heat sensors!" Avery shouted back. "You messed up my plan when the tiara wasn't in the vault!"

"How is that my fault?" Eliot snatched the tiara out of her hand. "Give me that."

"Hey!" Avery grabbed for the tiara, but Eliot kept it out of her reach. He tucked it into his stolen security-guard-jacket and backed away from her.

Gates were coming down, blocking the entrances. "Shit," muttered Eliot. "Now I'm in trouble because of your mess-up!"

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" Avery asked, starting to panic a little. She was Avery Carpenter! She never got caught!

"I don't know," Eliot muttered. Then his face lit up. "Got an idea." He grabbed her hand. "The security guards will be down here soon. You got I.D. as that Southern girl you were playing earlier, in case you need to show it?"

"Yeah," Avery said, panting. It was hard to keep up with Eliot in her high heels.

"Good," Eliot said. He stopped next to the main vault (the unconscious security guard was gone for some reason), pushed her against the wall, and kissed her.

Avery pulled her head away. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Guards are comin' – look, just go with it for a minute, okay?" he said, and kissed her again. It was rough, sloppy, and overly exaggerated, then Eliot's plan clicked in Avery's mind and she threw her arms around his neck to pull him closer.

Suddenly she heard at least three people running down the hallway towards them. "Hey!"

Avery detached herself from Eliot's lips (Jesus, somewhere along the line he'd gotten really into it) and looked over at the man who'd spoken as two other security guards ran past towards the cleaning room. It was Tom, the head of security who she'd met while posing as Daisy Valentine. "Oh, hey, Tom!" she giggled, slipping back into her drawl. "I was just – ah – makin' friends with – " she checked the security nametag Eliot had clipped to his jacket, "Mr. Jacobsen here!"

"Yeah, I can see that," Tom said sternly. "And neither of you saw the perp who just broke into the cleaning room?"

"Did someone break in?" Avery said, looking back at Eliot. "I – I don't think we saw – "

"No, we've been a little preoccupied," Eliot said apologetically.

"I'm awful sorry, sir!" Avery said to Tom earnestly.

"Yeah, so sorry, it won't happen again," Eliot said.

Tom shook his head. "Save it. You're fired. Miss Valentine, Mr. Mueller's been looking for you at the gala. You might want to get back up there." He walked past them, muttering to himself.

Eliot looked at her. "Thanks for playing along."

"Oh yeah, real smooth move," Avery said dryly.

"Worked, didn't it?

Avery pushed Eliot away. "Let's get out of here."

Eliot grunted as they walked down the hallways. "I think you're on your own now, sweetheart. I can get out through a window somewhere but Mr. Mueller's looking for you, isn't he?" He smirked.

Avery rolled her eyes. "The entire building's on lockdown and if you think I'm letting you out of my sight when you've still got my tiara, you're gonna have to think again, I stole that fair and square."

"And I stole it from you, fair and square." Eliot said.

Avery swiped her security card again and let them out of the basement. They made their way up the stairs. "You took it out of my hand when I was off guard. That's not fair and square."

"Look." Eliot turned to face her at the top of the stairs. "It's not gonna be that easy to get out of here with the lockdown going on. Why don't we agree to help each other out and then once we're out of the building, we'll worry about who gets the tiara? What do you say? Deal?" Eliot held out his hand again.

Avery looked at him suspiciously. "You're only saying that because you currently have the tiara in your coat." She sighed. "But fine." She grabbed his hand and shook it.

Eliot smiled and unzipped his security jacket, revealing that he had a white button-down shirt underneath. "Miss Valentine, I believe you've just found yourself a date to the gala."

xxx

Avery reentered the gala with Eliot, who had somehow transformed from security guard to upscale businessman, by her side. He now wore a suit jacket over his white shirt, complete with bow tie. Security officers were stationed at each door. Partygoers stood huddled in groups, whispering amongst themselves.

"Daisy!" Mueller made his way over to her. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere! What with the break-in, I was afraid something bad had happened to you?"

"Was there a break-in?" drawled Avery. "Gosh, I miss all the fun. So sorry to have worried you, Mr. Mueller, wasn't on purpose, I promise!"

Eliot cleared his throat. Avery turned to him. "Oh, Mr. Mueller, I'd like to introduce you to Kurt. He's my driver. My daddy hired him to drive me places."

Eliot gave her a look, but politely smiled and shook hands with Mueller. "Hi, how are ya?"

"Fine, fine, just a little distressed about the break in." He looked at Avery sadly. "A very valuable tiara has gone missing."

"Oh no!" Avery said, feigning devastation. "Well, I'm real sorry to hear that, Mr. Mueller. I sure do hope you find it!"

Eliot coughed. "Mr. Mueller, I hope you don't mind – I'm aware that we're on lockdown but little Miss Daisy here has a very early appointment tomorrow morning, I'd hate for her to be up too late. It's already past her bedtime, you see."

It was Avery's turn to give Eliot a look. He smiled serenely at Mr. Mueller. "I wonder if you'd allow me to take Miss Daisy home. You know her well enough, you know she had nothing to do with the break in. She does need her beauty sleep."

"Oh, of course, of course," Mueller said distractedly. "Don't let me keep you. Let the guards know I've said you can leave."

"Thank you kindly, Mr. Mueller!" Avery said graciously. She offered her hand and Mueller kissed it.

"Good night, Daisy, and I'll speak with you soon!"

"Sure thing!" Avery called over her shoulder as Eliot led her to the door.

Avery nodded to the security guards, showed them her I.D., and told them they had Mueller's blessing to leave the party. After a few tense moments, they finally parted and Eliot and Avery walked out the door. She would have jumped for joy if not for the fact that Eliot still had the tiara. The night wasn't over yet. It was one thing to steal something from a museum. Stealing from another thief was another story.

"You were good in there," Eliot said as they made their way down the museum steps. "Rock solid alias. Very good."

"There's no need to be condescending," Avery said, rolling her eyes. They made their way into the parking lot. Avery rummaged in her purse for her car keys.

"I'm not being condescending, I'm really impressed!" Eliot said. "How'd you manage to do that on your own?"

Avery shook her head dismissively. "It's really not that hard, especially when you've got a cousin who's a computer genius like I do. I'm good at putting together a character. She's good at faking the necessary articles and documents."

"Family operation, huh? Cute."

Avery rolled her eyes and walked to her car. "Get in."

Eliot laughed. "I think this is where I leave. Nice meeting you." He turned to go.

"Hey!" Avery grabbed his arm. "You're not going anywhere while you still have my tiara. Get in the car!"

Eliot considered. "Can I buy you a drink somewhere?"

"I don't think so," Avery said.

"C'mon." Eliot smirked. "You're not getting the tiara back. Least I can do is buy you a drink."

Avery scowled. "Fine. But just know, Eliot, by the end of the night you're going to give me what I want."

Eliot smiled affectionately and opened the car door for her. "I look forward to seeing you try."

xxx

One and a half beers later, Avery had to admit that Eliot wasn't that bad a guy. They'd gone to a bar and grabbed a table for themselves in a corner, tucked out of the way of everyone else, and Avery had actually found Eliot pretty easy to talk to. There was a certain chivalry about him that she appreciated, but he still struck her as arrogant. He was altogether too pleased with himself for still having her tiara in his possession. It pissed her off, and just made her more determined to steal it back from him.

Eliot had taken his hair out of its ponytail and gotten rid of his jacket and bowtie. It gave him a much more casual look, and Avery thought for the first time since she'd met him, she might actually be seeing Eliot as he really was, not in disguised as someone else.

Lounging in the chair across from Avery, he took a swig of his beer. "So how'd you slip up back there?"

"What do you mean?" Avery asked.

"You seem pretty smart and pretty good at what you do. How'd you mess up?" Eliot asked, looking at her closely.

Avery narrowed her eyes. "If you're planning on teaching me a lesson or something, I don't think there's a lot I can learn from someone like you."

Eliot grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He looked down at his hands, still smirking to himself. "That's not what I meant! What I'm wondering is how someone as smart as you can go in to steal the Sapphire Tiara and not know that it's being held in the cleaning room, not the vault."

"What do you even want the tiara for?" Avery shot back. "Think it's gonna make you pretty?"

"Funny," Eliot said. "No, I got a client who's gonna give me a lot of money."

"It'll be a shame when you have to tell them a better thief stole the tiara from you," Avery said.

Eliot shook his head. "You're not getting it back."

"Eliot." Avery leaned across the table, smiling slightly. "I'm really good at getting what I want. And I told you, you're going to give me back that tiara."

Eliot smiled back at her, leaning across the table to mimic her posture. "We'll see."

Avery shook her head, grinning. "You don't give up, do you?"

"It's one of my better qualities," Eliot said. He slouched back in his seat and took another drink.

"What are some of your lesser qualities?" Avery asked, smiling.

"You'll have to figure that out for yourself," he said.

Avery raised her eyebrows. "Hm. Man of mystery, huh?"

Eliot laughed. "Aren't we all? C'mon, don't pretend you're not secretive. You never did answer my question, and I _am_ curious."

Avery sipped her beer and wondered how much she ought to tell him. "I'm used to having back-up," she finally said. She didn't look at Eliot, but instead fixed her eyes on a point on the wall next to him. "My cousin who faked the records for me – for the past year we've been working together on this sort of thing. She usually hacks in and does all the research, finds out everything I need to know to get in. She just decided to go back to grad school and get a master's in computer programming or something like that, so I don't have her researching things beforehand. That's why I didn't know they were moving the tiara tonight."

Eliot grunted in what might have been sympathy. "Sorry. I know how that goes. Teams breaking up and all that."

"What do you care? It turned out to your advantage," she said, ending with a slight laugh. She tipped her head back and downed the rest of her beer. "And all my hard work goes to waste. Just because you burst in with your fists and your security uniform and caught me off guard."

"If you want me to apologize, it's not gonna happen, sweetheart," Eliot laughed.

"Such a charmer," Avery said, looking down but still smiling.

Eliot shrugged. "I like to think I am. But I bet you say that to all the guys, huh?"

"Only the charming ones!" Avery laughed. It was a shame he had her tiara. If not for that, she'd probably actually like him. A lot. "But you should know, I don't actually get a lot of guys."

Eliot looked surprised. "That's hard to believe," he said. "Because you are beautiful." He smirked, rested his chin in his hand, and raised his eyebrows.

Avery laughed again. "Bet you say that to all the girls, huh?"

Eliot's grin widened. "Only the beautiful ones." He winked, and finished off his beer.

"Smooth," Avery said, doing her best to hide the fact that anything he said had any effect on her. "I think you're trying too hard, though."

"That's funny," Eliot said, keeping up his smirk. "I'm not really trying at all."

"Oh my God." Avery laughed and covered her eyes. "I can't believe you. Are you serious? Is this how you pick up women? Does this work?"

"Usually," Eliot said. "Unless she's a lesbian. Or, for whatever reason, really not looking for a guy like me." He bit his lip and flicked his eyes up and down her body. "But trust me, I'm looking for a girl like you."

"What kind of girl is that supposed to be?" Avery asked.

"Come on, Avery. You're smart, you would've pulled off a damn good con if someone a little better than you hadn't come along, and your legs in that dress are killer." Eliot's blue eyes met hers dead-on.

Avery felt her cheeks blush red. She tried to roll her eyes but ended up smiling. "I'll save you the trouble of asking. Do you want to get out of here?"

xxx

Avery wished she could say she didn't have a "type" when it came to men, but she had to face the facts: she totally did. And Eliot was definitely her type.

From a logistical standpoint maybe it wasn't the best idea to screw another thief – particularly the guy who'd stolen the thing she'd wanted to steal – in their not-so-legal line of work, chances were good that they'd meet again. However, Avery knew herself well enough to know she had enough self-esteem not to hate herself the next morning. She'd been through enough in her life to know how to handle herself on her own.

Besides, Eliot still had the tiara. Avery hadn't given up on that. She'd stolen it before he had, and she was going to get it back, no matter how she had to do it.

However, the tiara was the last thing on Avery's mind when Eliot had her pushed up against the door of his apartment, kissing her like he had back in the basement of the museum – only this time they were both entirely focused on each other. Avery pulled at Eliot's jacket, sliding it off his shoulders. Eliot reached into his jacket and pulled out the tiara. "Hands off," he growled to her before wrapping it in his jacket and tossing it aside.

Avery started to speak, but he silenced her with another kiss. His hand slid down her hip and then under her dress, rough against the smooth skin of her thigh. Avery pulled away from his lips and began working on unbuttoning his shirt, but Eliot grabbed her hands, laughing gently. "Easy, girl," he said, grinning and leaning his forehead against hers. He kissed her again, took her bottom lip into his mouth and bit down gently. "We got time," he said.

Avery groaned impatiently and hooked one of her legs around Eliot's, pulling him closer. Eliot let out another low chuckle. "All right, you win." Eliot slid his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet. Avery wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her down the hallway to the bedroom.

xxx

Avery woke up early the following morning and crawled out of bed while Eliot was still asleep. She dressed quickly, groaning inwardly at the idea of wearing the same dress as last night. Stumbling through Eliot's apartment, she found her purse where she'd dropped it near the door and pulled out a comb, which she raked haphazardly through her hair. Then she dove for the tiara, which was still wrapped in Eliot's jacket where he'd tossed it.

In Avery's opinion, anyone who tossed such a precious artifact aside the way Eliot had was not worthy of even touching it. She unwrapped it from Eliot's jacket and held it carefully, reverently, the way it ought to be held.

In the bathroom, Avery washed last night's makeup off her face and reapplied her lipstick and mascara. She looked down at the tiara in her hands, considered, then set it on her head. She combed her fingers through her hair and looked carefully at her reflection. All right, it didn't go well with the dress she wore, but she thought the tiara itself looked pretty damn good on her. Not something she'd _wear_ on a regular basis, but she took a certain pride in calling it hers.

Who said she couldn't be a princess? Avery smiled and took the tiara off. Time to play a little dirty.

Avery made her way back to Eliot's bedroom, tiara in hand, and threw herself back on the bed next to him. "Eliot."

Eliot woke up slowly, grumbling to himself. He blinked over at her. "What?" he snapped.

"Not a morning person, huh?" Avery asked. Eliot started to sit up; Avery moved over to him and straddled his lap. "Listen to me for a minute." He furrowed his eyebrows, confused and still half-asleep. Avery held up the tiara. "See this? It's mine."

Eliot shook his head. "We been over this. You're not leaving with that thing."

"Actually, I am," Avery said, keeping her voice calm. "And if you don't let me, or if you come after me immediately, I will call the police with an anonymous tip about who robbed the Mueller Museum. They'll have your name and address quicker than you can say 'Avery won.' Which she did."

Eliot rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't do that."

"Do you want to try me?" Avery said. "My phone's right over there in my purse. I can be on the phone with the police in thirty seconds."

Eliot looked furious. "That's not fair! That's not even right, Avery." He sat up a little, supporting himself with his elbows, still glaring at her. "You can't be a thief and threaten to call the cops on another thief!"

"I can actually do whatever I want, and you can take it or leave it," Avery said, shrugging. "Point is, I keep the tiara. You go steal your own thing. This one's mine."

Eliot threw up his hands in defeat. "What the hell do you expect me to tell my client? You know – the one who's expecting me to deliver that thing today?"

"Tell them a better thief beat you to it." Avery smirked and leaned down to kiss Eliot on the forehead. "Hey. Just so you know, last night was really fun. The whole thing, I mean. More fun than I've had in a long time."

"Sure," Eliot spat, clearly still furious. "We'll have to do this again sometime."

"Yeah. After you find it in your heart to forgive me." Avery smiled and brushed her fingers down his cheek.

"I never heard an apology."

"Yeah, you won't get one," Avery said.

Eliot looked up at her coldly. "You're a bitch."

Avery laughed. "You won't hate me forever." She got to her feet, still clutching the tiara, and grabbed her purse off the bedside table. She went to the door and glanced over her shoulder. It felt like she ought to give him a more heartfelt goodbye, but she didn't really know how. "Bye," she said briskly, and walked out.

Before she left the apartment, Avery pulled a post-it note out of her purse and scribbled her first name and phone number on it. She kissed the post-it, making sure her lipstick left a mark, and stuck it to the inside of Eliot's front door. She walked out without looking back.


End file.
